STOCKS FALL: Here's what you need to know

Stocks closed lower for a second day this week despite a brief,
sharp comeback with oil prices in late-morning trading.

First, the scoreboard:

Dow:17,568.00,
-162.51, (-0.92%)

S&P 500: 2,063.59, -13.48, (-0.65%)

Nasdaq: 5,098.24, -3.57, (-0.07%)

And now, Tuesday's top stories:

Crude oil fell to a new
six-year low before regaining some losses. West Texas
Intermediate crude oil futures in New York fell 5% to as low
as $36.64 per barrel. Brent crude fell below $40 per barrel
for the first time since 2009. Oil prices extended a decline
that kicked in on Friday as the 12-member oil group OPEC
decided not to cut its production level and did not set a
production limit.

There was more
bad news for Chipotle as Boston University said that
80 students, up from 30 on Monday, fell ill after they
ate at its restaurants. The stock fell by as much as 3% in
trading, and has lost some 26% in the last three months.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is
investigating E. coli cases linked to Chipotle in several
states. But a Chipotle spokesperson said the new cases in
Boston were likely the result of norovirus, a
gastrointestinal illness that's easily transmitted through
contact with infected food, surfaces, and people.

Outerwall shares remained sharply lower after a tumble in
after-hours trading on Monday. The shares fell 23% after the
company slashed its forecast for full-year revenues, as sales
from the DVD rental kiosks Redbox drop. Also, the company has
been spending a lot on marketing and new content, and that's
eating into profitability right now. With services like
Netflix now cheaply available, not that many people are
interested in physical discs anymore.

Small businesses continue to suggest that
higher wages are coming. The National Federation of
Independent Business' (NFIB) survey showed
that 23% of firms reported an increase
in compensation, up two points from October, and
near an expansion high. This number has been on an
upward trend since the end of the financial
crisis.

Job openings fell a bit in October. The
latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
showed that there were 5.4 million openings during the month,
down from 5.5 million in September. For a seventh
straight month, the quits rate, a gauge of workers'
confidence in the labor market, was unchanged at
1.9%. The report showed "continued
labor-market resilience", according to BNP Paribas' Derek
Lindsey in a client note.

Morgan Stanley is
cutting 1,200 staff, including about 470 front-office
staff in its fixed income and commodities business, a person
familiar with the situation told Bloomberg. The bank will
incur a severance charge of $150 million, as it tries to
improve profitability.

In news that crossed after the closing bell, CNBC
reported that
Yahoo will not spinoff its stake in Alibaba. Instead, it
will consider selling its core internet business. Yahoo
shares jumped nearly 3% after-hours. The company had been
preparing to spin off its 15% stake in the Chinese ecommerce
giant, and was expected to complete the complicated
transaction in January.